Surprisingly I get this question a lot. “What Do Graphic Designers Do?” The fact that graphic designers are involved in so many facets of business, it surprises me that some people don’t know what a Graphic Designer does.

If this is you and you are not clear on what a graphic designer does then I would like you
to take a moment and look around. Do you see a magazine, poster, brochure, commercial on the T.V. Those are all examples of things a graphic designer would make. The list is endless!

Check out this video where I share more about what graphic designers actually do.

In my mind there are a few categories of graphic design that one could fit into. I will list them and explain, but I must say this is my opinion of how to categorize the massive possibilities in the world of Graphic Design.

<1> Print and Layout

In this category the work is endless. It includes areas like magazine layout, advertisements, stationary, brochures, and more. Companies often have a graphic designer on staff for promotional designing. And being able to typeset or tweak layouts in order to stay consistent with the brand of the company. Or you can find print and layout designers working for magazines. This is a more obvious field because the nature of a magazine is completely all layout and print. Also book publishing companies will work with designers for cover designs and typesetting. Advertisement agencies of course need designers for print and layout design of posters, billboards, etc. Often times designers will work under a marketing team and get a lot of cues and direction from them on what should be done. So there is not very much freedom in this area.

<2> Illustration

This is a given. This area deals with illustration of course working in programs like Adobe Illustrator creating vector images. This category is also vast because you can expand into things like illustrating for video games. Also working with graphic novels to illustrate for them. Or, of course, illustrating for children’s books. Often times you can be hired by larger companies to illustrate different things for manuals (ie parts for a manufacturing company, or drafting plans that have not yet been built) there are many options when is comes to illustration.

<3> Photos and Photoshop (Raster)

Here is where pretty much everyone in every field will dabble. Dealing with photoshop, it is a very robust program with so many possibilities, because of that it can be used in almost every field. But this area would include things like photographers, flyers and poster designs can often be made within photoshop. Any retouching of photos for magazines or advertisement layouts.

<4> Video/Film (after effects)

This area is very different from the other areas but important to know. After effects deals with animation. It is a program that can add animated elements to a film. Or just create animated elements on its own. You might see these after effects in the news when a name or title appears on the screen in front of the news caster. Or at the front of a movie when the production company logo comes on the screen in an animated way. This is used and created in after effects. The thing about this program is that all of the other programs are needed. Often times you will need to create a design in Adobe illustrator and the import that design into After Effects to animate it. The same thing with photoshop. So in this area knowledge of the other programs is required. Also I have found in experience working with film and production. There is a lot of need for graphic designers in the world of film. I have had to recreate money and design fake bank signs and create fake custom magazine covers for film projects. Because a film is so specific to the script it will call for things that have to be custom created to fit the scene. Many people underestimate the need for a graphic designer on set for a film production, but there is a huge need for them.

Do what you love!

The possibilities are endless when it comes to the world of all things creative. I hope this blog helped open your eyes to some of the ways you can use graphic design to create! Go out there and create the things only you can create. We all have something unique inside of us that we need to share with the world so get out there and CREATE!

Hey! I’m Emily Jean!

Hello! My name is Emily and welcome to my little corner. In the world of so many blogs I am honored you stopped over to mine. I hope you enjoy! My hope is to share as much as I can with you. I am a designer and a bit of a jane of all trades, so hopefully there is something that will enrich your life. Please click around, stay a while, and drop me a note and let me know you stopped by!